download here

Illustrating Israel’s Ignorance
Isaiah 22:15-25
August 27, 2023

As you know, we’ve spent the last 2 ½ months
Working our way through Isaiah’s oracles.

They are burdens God has pronounced against Judah’s neighbors
In order that God might correct the backward thinking of Judah.

The first 6 taught us that there is only one savior from judgment and that is the LORD.
The seventh (Edom) taught us that one must approach Him rightly with repentance.
The eighth (Arabia) taught us the foolishness of trying to face judgment with your own glory or by your own strength.

Those were oracles against other nations but they were all about Judah.

This morning Isaiah finally confronted Judah.
• Sarcastically calling them “the valley of vision”
• Revealing that they may have escaped Assyria, but judgment was coming.
• God was displeased with the way they responded to the Assyrian threat.
• They should have repented and trusted God.
• Instead they chose to live it up for one last night.

These were a people in love with the world who had no intention of humbling themselves, repenting, or seeking God.

Because of this arrogance Isaiah made a shocking announcement.

Isaiah 22:14 “But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me, “Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you Until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.”

That is a terrifying reality, but it is absolutely true.

Furthermore it is DEFINITELY CONSISTENT
With who God reveals Himself to be even in the New Testament.

We heard Jesus preach:
Matthew 12:31-32 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”

The passage, commonly referred to as “The Unpardonable Sin”,
Is often confusing to people, but it becomes clearer
When you understand that the role of the Holy Spirit is to convict men of the truth.

• It is the Holy Spirit who exposes the sinner.
• It is the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ.
• It is the Holy Spirit who draws to salvation.

If a man refuses the work of the Holy Spirit,
It’s not just that he won’t be forgiven, it’s that he can’t be forgiven.

If a man rejects the offer of salvation there is no pardon available.

It is the same thing the writer of Hebrews said multiple times.

Hebrews 2:2-3 “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,”

• That’s the same thing Jesus said.
• If you won’t respond to the offer of salvation, how do you expect to be saved?
• You can’t.

Hebrews 6:4-6 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

• Again, if you’re not going to respond to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit then salvation is impossible.

Hebrews 10:26-27 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.”

• And again, if you choose sin and reject salvation, then you will not and cannot be forgiven.

THAT’S ALL THE SAME MESSAGE.

And that is why Isaiah has pronounced to the people of Judah.
• God has called you trust in Him alone.
• God has called you to repentance.
• God brought hardship into your life to encourage that decision.
• And yet you still refused.

There will be no forgiveness, only judgment.

AND I AGAIN REMIND YOU
That is precisely what God told Isaiah his ministry would produce.

Remember the commissioning?
Isaiah 6:9-12 “He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.” Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate, “The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.”

God told Isaiah
• He was being sent to a people who were deaf, blind, and stubborn.
• Isaiah’s preaching would not correct that, it would only prove it.
• Isaiah wanted to know, “How long?”
God told him, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate, “The LORD has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.”

It’s happening just as God told Isaiah it would.
• He has preached truth.
• He has called for repentance.
• He has been utterly rejected.

And this morning God pronounced judgment through him.

AND YET,
One of the things we absolutely love about God
Is His attribute which we refer to as His “long suffering”
Or more commonly called His “patience”.

Psalms 103:8-10 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”

By all accounts the book of Isaiah could have ended after 22:14.
Isaiah could have rolled up his scroll, walked out of the synagogue
And never preached again.

BUT GOD IS PATIENT.
You might even say He is relentless.

Even though Israel is blind, God continues to confront.

In fact, by the end of Isaiah’s ministry God will say this:
Isaiah 65:2-5 “I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, A people who continually provoke Me to My face, Offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks; Who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places; Who eat swine’s flesh, And the broth of unclean meat is in their pots. “Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, For I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.”

• God continues…
• He is the prodigal father who keeps watching the road…

And that is why,
Even though Isaiah has pronounced judgment,
God does not stop.

TONIGHT GOD CONTINUES.

TONIGHT we get a message about the judgment of a man named “Shebna”

• “Shebna” is called a “steward” in verse 15.
• He is said to be “in charge of the royal household.”

If you’re looking for a comparison, in Titus 1:7
Paul refers to elders as “God’s steward” whom He places in the church.
Men who are called by God to oversee and care for His flock.

That is what Shebna is to the royal household.
• He is a steward; an overseer
• He is a man with access to the king.
• He is a man with great influence.

You see him in the O.T. narrative.
2 Kings 18:17-18 “Then the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the fuller’s field. When they called to the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came out to them.”

There Shebnah is referred to as a scribe
• He is one of the 3 men who was commissioned to go and negotiate with the king of Assyria when he approached Jerusalem.

HE’S A PRETTY IMPORTANT GUY.

Isaiah is about to pronounce judgment on Shebna
Because in this man we see an illustration of the nation as a whole.

Shebna’s thinking was indicative of Judah’s thinking.
Indeed Judah may have been heavily influenced by Shebna.

And it all stems around ONE MAJOR ACT of Shebna.
We find out in verse 16 that Shebna made himself a large and glorious and extravagant tomb.
• He carved out the place of his burial.
• He picked out his headstone.
• He had it engraved.

And God sees this as an illustration
Of the thinking of the nation as a whole.

Here is Shebna,
• A man who saw the enemy eye to eye.
• A man who was faced with death (as the whole city was)
• But he did not repent
• Instead he made preparations for death

And his preparation had to do with securing his glory after he was gone.
He built a tomb so that he would be perpetually remembered.

Like the rest of the city he had apparently chosen to party
And give it one last hoorah before death
And then he had arranged to rest in peace forever in a tomb of glory.

“LIVE IT UP AND THEN REST IN PEACE”
THAT COULD ACTUALLY BE THE MOTTO OF OUR CULTURE.
(They actually say Y.O.L.O)

Men think they can
Live this entire life for the world and it’s pleasures
And then when they die
They will go rest in heavenly retirement and reward.

IT’S NOT TRUE.
It wasn’t true for Shebna and it wasn’t true for Judah.

And Isaiah is about to use him as an object lesson
To show Judah how backward their thinking is.

So, if you think you can live for the glory and comforts and joys of this life
And then die and go rest in peace in eternal glory and comfort.

Then there are 4 things God would talk to you about.
(They are the 4 things He wanted to talk to Shebna about)

#1 HIS AUTHORITY
Isaiah 22:15-16

Well there you have Shebna, this man of importance.
This man “who is in charge of the royal household,”

A pretty big guy in life.

And as we said,
• He has contemplated the Assyrian attack and responded,
• Not with repentance, but with a plan to make his legacy last forever.

It is a plan to immortalize himself in a glorious tomb
To be remembered forever.

And God has a question for him.
(16) “What right do you have..?”

Who do you think you are to go and determine your legacy or the glory you will receive after you die?

(16) “‘What right do you have here, And whom do you have here, That you have hewn a tomb for yourself here, You who hew a tomb on the height, You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?”

Who do you think you are that you get to determine what eternity holds for you?

Now there is a question to ponder for a moment.
• You may, to a certain extent, have control over the circumstances of this life.
• You may, to a certain extent, get to make choices a steer your ship.
• But do you really think that you have a say regarding your eternal state?

Listen friend: YOU ARE NOT THE JUDGE
• You don’t get to determine your eternal reward
• You don’t get to determine your eternal state
• You don’t get to determine your eternal comfort
• You don’t get to determine your eternal glory

Have you ever been to a trial?
You see a man on trial for murder.
• He walks into the courtroom.
• The evidence is laid out.
• The jury finds him guilty.
• And then the man walks up to the bench, grabs the gavel, and says, “No
worries your honor, I’ll take if from here and pronounce my own sentence.”

IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY.

Psalms 62:12 “And lovingkindness is Yours, O Lord, For You recompense a man according to his work.”

Matthew 16:24-27 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”

2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Romans 2:16 “on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.”

Revelation 20:11-13 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.”

You do understand that eternity is not up to you.
There is a Judge who determines your eternal state and glory.

I mean really, you don’t have any say about anything after death.

You can buy a cemetery plot,
• But if your kids or relatives decide not to bury you in it, there’s not a thing you can do about it.

You can write your own eulogy…
You can pick the songs for your funeral…
You can have your own headstone carved…
• And you have no control over whether or not any of your decisions are followed.

You don’t get to determine your eternal state.

And that is the reminder God gives to Shebna.
• He had dug this glorious tomb to be honored forever
• And God looks at him with disdain
• God asks who he thinks he is

He is no different than Judah who had lived only for themselves
But still expected to have a glorious eternity with God.

They smiled at eternity, remember?
Isaiah 22:13 “Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”

You don’t have a say in your eternity.
The Judge will determine that.

It’s like the arrogant man James spoke of.
James 4:13-17 “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

What a foolish notion.
You don’t have that kind of authority.

So before you plan to live it up and then rest in peace…
You ought to come to grips with the fact that you may live it up,
But you have no control over whether or not you rest in peace.

Someone else will determine that.

Shebna needed to think about his authority and just how binding it was.
#2 HIS QUALITY
Isaiah 22:17-19

Now some people are well-aware that God is the Judge
And He will determine their eternal state and glory.

They know it’s up to God not them.

But they still smile at the future,
Because they are so convinced of their own importance
That they can’t image God not agreeing with their assessment.

I MEAN HERE
• You have Shebna building this glorious tomb for himself.
• God says, “What right do you have to determine that?”

And Shebna might have responded, “You’re right God, that’s not up to me, but I think once you consider all the facts You’ll see that my assessment was right.”

Shebna actually thought that he deserved to lay in a glorious tomb
And be remembered in Judah forever.

God’s estimation of Shebna’s worth and quality is a little different.

Shebna thought he deserved a glorious tomb,
God says, “No, you deserve to be thrown in a ditch in a foreign land.”

Look at this.
(17-19) “Behold, the LORD is about to hurl you headlong, O man. And He is about to grasp you firmly And roll you tightly like a ball, To be cast into a vast country; There you will die And there your splendid chariots will be, You shame of your master’s house.’ “I will depose you from your office, And I will pull you down from your station.”

God says, “I’m going to roll you up into a little ball and then punt you into a foreign field and you can rot and die there.”

So much for glory in death.

Remember that story about the rich man and Lazarus?
Remember how shocked that man was to be in torment?

Abraham laid it out pretty straight for him.
Luke 16:25 “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.”

Sorry, you already had your good things.
No glorious tomb for you.

And it’s not like Jesus hasn’t spelled this out for us.
Luke 6:20-26 “And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”

Your estimation of your quality might not be the same as God’s.
• Our world honors the rich and the powerful.
• Our world honors the strong and the successful.
• They get glorious tombs and statues and plaques and stadiums named after them.

But bear in mind that God’s evaluation might differ a little.
• How often has He told us that “the first shall be last and the last shall be first”?

And how many times have we read about this in the Scriptures?

Psalms 37:12-13 “The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming.”

Psalms 49:5-12 “Why should I fear in days of adversity, When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me, Even those who trust in their wealth And boast in the abundance of their riches? No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him— For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease trying forever— That he should live on eternally, That he should not undergo decay. For he sees that even wise men die; The stupid and the senseless alike perish And leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have called their lands after their own names. But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.”

Psalms 52:5-7 “But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah. The righteous will see and fear, And will laugh at him, saying, “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, But trusted in the abundance of his riches And was strong in his evil desire.”

Psalms 73:12-20 “Behold, these are the wicked; And always at ease, they have increased in wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure And washed my hands in innocence; For I have been stricken all day long And chastened every morning. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children. When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.”

Psalms 92:5-7 “How great are Your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep. A senseless man has no knowledge, Nor does a stupid man understand this: That when the wicked sprouted up like grass And all who did iniquity flourished, It was only that they might be destroyed forevermore.”

You see it right?
The world’s definition of quality
And God’s definition of quality differ slightly.

You’ve read that faith hall of fame in Hebrews 11.
You are familiar with that obscure list of nameless saints.
• Their names aren’t even recorded in Scripture.
• You can’t look them up in some book of martyrs.
• They have been totally forgotten by the world.

But do you remember what God says about them?
Hebrews 11:35-38 “Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.”

“men of whom the world was not worthy”
• Totally unrecognized in life.
• Totally unremembered in death.
• And yet God esteems them higher than all those with statues to this day.

PERHAPS OUR JUDGMENT DIFFERS FROM GOD’S.

This is the reminder to Shebna.
You have gone ahead and taken it upon yourself to assume your eternal reward.

• FIRST off, that’s not for you to decide.
• SECONDLY, your evaluator appears to be broken.

You need to consider your authority.
You need to consider your quality.
There’s a third thing.
#3 HIS VANITY
Isaiah 22:20-24

Part of the reason Shebna built such a glorious tomb
Is because he misevaluated his own worth.

He must have thought himself to be IRREPLACEABLE.
(They’ll miss me forever)

And yet God announces that He already has his replacement standing by.

(20-21) “Then it will come about in that day, That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, And I will clothe him with your tunic And tie your sash securely about him. I will entrust him with your authority, And he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.”

Now I’ll freely admit that I am no longer a fan of modern country music.
Country music doesn’t have a very accurate take on much,
Especially when they enter the realm of theology.

HOWEVER, there is one area of life that country music
Does seem to have a pretty good handle on.

Those writers do seem to understand
“Tragedy and loss associated with sin pretty good.”

The one man did say if you play a country music song backward, “You get your wife back, you get your kids back, you get your house back, you get your truck back, ect.”

Well Toby Keith sang a song in the 90’s that I think Shebna would have greatly identified with.

“Who’s That Man?”
“That’s my house and that’s my car
That’s my dog in my backyard
There’s the window to the room
Where she lays her pretty head
I planted that tree out by the fence
Not long after we moved in
There’s my kids and that’s my wife
But who’s that man running my life?”

Well for Shebna that man is “Eliakim the son of Hilkiah”

God removed Shebna, Eliakim stepped in and no one missed a beat.

In fact, he is going to be even MORE SUCCESSFUL than you.
(22-24) “Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder, When he opens no one will shut, When he shuts no one will open. “I will drive him like a peg in a firm place, And he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house. “So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, offspring and issue, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars.”

We understand this vanity today.
• Every offseason some pro athlete will hold out from his team because he estimates his services are so valuable that the team can’t win without him and he demands more money.

We saw the government several years ago start bailing out banks and automotive industries and such.
• They were labeled, “Too big to fail”
• Or “too important to lose”

And that is a common thought of so many in our culture.
It definitely was in Israel.

They were too important to be cut off.

But do you remember the day John the Baptist addressed that mindset?
Matthew 3:7-9 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”

The Pharisees and Sadducees were so important weren’t they!
They ranked right up there with a rock.
(incidentally, made of the same basic ingredients: dirt)

Shebna…
Judah…
The Pharisees…
Athletes…
And really most in our culture are guilty of this.

We have bought all the self-esteem training
And we all think ourselves a little too important to the world.

But listen, Saul was a great king.
• He stood a head and shoulders above the rest.
• He was a might warrior
• And God replaced him with a shepherd boy.

Jesus walked this earth looking for disciples
• And totally neglected the religious elite.
• He ended up with fishermen, a tax collector, a terrorist, and other rabble.
• None of them were educated.

Could it be that we are prone to evaluate ourselves a little too highly?

• Scripture says that our life is like “a vapor”.
• Ecclesiastes reminds that most of it is “meaningless”.
• We were formed “out of dirt” and that is where we are returning.

Yes God made us a living soul
And thus distinguished us from every other aspect of creation,

But that soul is fallen and apart from the intervention
And redemption of God will suffer for all eternity in hell.

What exactly do we think eternity owes us?

Perhaps our vanity needs to be checked.
• Some day we will all be replaced.
• Someone else will own your land.
• Someone else will do your job.
• Someone else will take your spot.

None of us are irreplaceable, we all trade on grace not merit.
Shebna needed to consider that.

Shebna needed to consider his authority
Shebna needed to consider his quality
Shebna needed to consider his vanity

One more thing
#4 HIS LEGACY
Isaiah 22:25

Now, I will readily admit that this verse is the enigma of the passage.

Basic hermeneutics says
• Since Eliakim is called “a peg in a firm place” in verse 23
• Then verse 25 has to be about him.
• When Isaiah says, “the peg driven in a firm place will give way” that must be talking about Eliakim.

And if you want to take that application I can not fault you or correct you.
In fact, I’m tempted to take it myself.

The problem is that if that is what Isaiah meant then it just sort of blows the whole point out of the water.
• The whole point is that Shebna is replaceable by Eliakim.
• But if Eliakim is now judged then Shebna actually ends up with the last laugh.
• It’s really hard to deal with it in that sense.

The other way to look at it
• Is to say that “the peg” is a title Isaiah is using to speak of any man in that office
• And that in verse 25 he is actually talking about Shebna.

AND CONTEXT SUPPORTS THAT.

• You can read commentaries were they take both sides.
• John Calvin went with this view and I think I’m going there with him.

I think verse 25 must be talking about Shebna.

“In that day” must be a reference to the day Shebna is punted into a foreign country to die.

And “the peg driven in a firm place” that “will give way” must be talking about him.

Therefore, “the load hanging on it” that will “be cut off” are all the people who trusted in and followed Shebna’s lead.

In this sense what we learn is that
Not only did Shebna ruin his own eternity through his arrogance,
But Shebna also led all those who followed him into destruction.

He will not be eternally remembered as a man who led men to heaven,
But as a man who led men to hell.

His legacy is tainted and marred.

In short, you have not accomplished in life what you thought you accomplished.

Remember that taunt of the King of Assyria we read back in chapter 14?
(We said it was a picture of Satan)

Isaiah 14:16-21 “Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, saying, ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?’ “All the kings of the nations lie in glory, Each in his own tomb. “But you have been cast out of your tomb Like a rejected branch, Clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit Like a trampled corpse. “You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined your country, You have slain your people. May the offspring of evildoers not be mentioned forever. “Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter Because of the iniquity of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth And fill the face of the world with cities.”

Not the legacy he was expecting was it?
“You have slain your people…”
“Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter…”

Think of Israel, even in Paul’s day.
Romans 2:17-24 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”

Paul said, “You’re no light in the darkness. You’re no corrector of the foolish. You cause men to blaspheme God.”

AND YOU SEE THE POINT.

You think you can live it up and then rest in peace…WRONG!
• You have offended God.
• You have led men to judgment.
• You have walked in pride.
• God is going to judge you.

Shebna was a picture of Israel.
• She thought she was too big to fail.
• She expected a glorious future.
• She supposed herself a benefit to the world.

NOT SO.

Church, we learn from this too.
Don’t overestimate yourself.

• We must humble ourselves.
• We must repent or our sin.
• We must throw ourselves at the mercy of God.
• We must seek Him for survival.

Salvation does not belong to the proud,
It belongs only to those who receive the mercy of the Judge.

download here

Why God Wouldn’t Forgive Judah
Isaiah 22:1-14
August 27, 2023

This morning we come to the most important of all the oracles.
This is the oracle that now finally addresses Jerusalem directly.

You see it in verse 1, “The oracle concerning the valley of vision”

“the valley of vision” is the title God has sarcastically given to Jerusalem.
• It is clear in verses 9-10 that Jerusalem is the subject.
• The term “valley of vision” would seem to indicate a city that sees clearly.
• It would seem to indicate a city that understands what is going on.

Based on chapter 22 we realize that this is a sarcastic name
For despite the frequent warnings of Isaiah,
Jerusalem doesn’t have a clue.

They have become precisely the people God told Isaiah they were
Back on the day when God commissioned Isaiah.

Isaiah 6:9 “He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’”

That is them.
People that look but just don’t get it.

So this is now the 9th oracle of Isaiah.

By now you know that all of these oracles were addressed to Jerusalem.
• They may have been about surrounding nations, but they were all preached to Jerusalem.
• They were all messages for them.

And having studied those first 8
We have even been able to discern a pattern and point to them all.

The first 6 all shared in common a warning and a reminder not to trust in foreign nations for help or for deliverance from Assyria.

Neither the Philistines, nor Moab, Nor Damascus, Nor Egypt, Nor Cush, Nor Babylon is going to be able to deliver you. They can’t even deliver themselves.

And so the first 6 oracles emphatically taught us that
When a nation faces the judgment of God
They should not look to external or worldly sources of deliverance.

Assyria is the bully in the playground
• They have been raised up by God for the punishment of godless nations.
• No worldly nation is going to be able to turn back the judgment of God.

If you want salvation, you are going to have to go to God.

When we studied the 7th oracle
• Which was concerning Edom
• We learned what is required in order to seek God for salvation and that is repentance.

• Edom was told that if they were going to inquire then they were going to have inquire correctly.
• They were invited to come, but in coming they must “return”; they must repent of their sin and return to God.

So while facing the judgment of God
The only salvation to be found is from God
And the means of approaching Him is through repentance.

And then we looked at the 8th oracle last Sunday night
• Which was about Arabia
• We learned that there is no substitution for repentance.

• Arabia’s “splendor” or glory could not exempt them from God’s judgment.
• Arabia’s “might” could not deliver them from God’s judgment.
• Man’s glory is far short of God’s glory.
• Man’s might is far short of God’s might.

And we even were reminded that if salvation is to be found
Not only must a man repent, but he must also find a Savior
Whose glory is equal to God’s
And whose might can withstand God’s judgment.

And there we find Jesus alone.
He alone shares the Father’s glory.
He alone was able to endure the full fury of God’s wrath on the cross.
There is no other Savior.

So at this point we are even SEEING THE GOSPEL begin to emerge through these oracles.

• Judgment on sin is real and present.
• Don’t trust in men for salvation.
• Run to God for salvation through repentance.
• Don’t trust in your own glory or strength to deliver you.
• Run to Christ who alone has acceptable glory and strength to save.

I know it took us a few weeks to get through them,
But the somewhat blurry message is now starting to become clear.

So now, having related that truth to Jerusalem we come to the 9th oracle
And this one directly addresses them.

But what we find is that
Jerusalem has learned nothing from those first 8 oracles.

They were given light but they couldn’t see it.
They were told truth but they couldn’t hear it.

And the oracle to them actually ends with a terrifying promise from God.

(14) “But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me, “Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you Until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.”

• This oracle ends with a promise from God that they will not be forgiven.
• It ends with a promise from God that they will die.

IT’S NO WONDER ISAIAH IS WEEPING.
• He has preached for years
• Now God has revealed to him that his congregation has refused to listen
• And will end up in judgment.

This is a sad oracle.

So, what happened?
Well, let’s work through it together this morning.
We’ll break it down into 5 points.

#1 A TROUBLED PEOPLE
Isaiah 22:1-3

So let’s begin with
Isaiah pointing out a people who appear to be in distress.

He asks them a question in verse 1:
“What is the matter with you now, that you have al gone up to the housetops?”
• The NIV translates it, “What troubles you..?”
• The KJV translates it, “What aileth thee..?”

In other words, they have all gone up on their roofs,
But it’s NOT for a party and it’s NOT just to enjoy the evening night air.

THEY ARE HIDING.
There is a fear of invaders who will enter their city, enter their homes, and kill them.

So in order to escape these coming invaders
The people of the city have all gone up onto their roofs to hide.
(Remember Rahab hiding the spies on her roof)

But why is that is puzzling to Isaiah?
Because it was just a moment ago that they were all having a big party.

(2) “You who were full of noise, You boisterous town, you exultant city;”

Why were they all celebrating and partying?
They were all partying because they had not died.

(2b) “Your slain were not slain with the sword, Nor did they die in battle.”

There had been a huge party in Jerusalem
Because they had not been slain with the sword or died in battle.

But all of a sudden, right in the middle of the party,
• Someone flipped the switch
• And these one-time partiers were scared out of their minds
• And immediately went and hid on their roofs.

THAT IS STRANGE.

No wonder Isaiah asked, “What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?”

Well the ANSWER is given in verse 3
“All your rulers have fled together, And have been captured without the bow; All of you who were found were taken captive together, Though they had fled far away.”

So why were the people in fear and hiding on their roof?
• Because all of their leaders had fled and had been captured.
• And now the people fear that those who captured them will return and sack their city.

SO WE SEE THE SCENE, BUT WE HAVE TO ASK:
“What is this referring to?”

It CANNOT be talking about the Assyrian invasion.
• During that invasion the leaders didn’t flee.
• Furthermore Assyria never entered the city.

But we know of an invasion when they did.
2 Kings 25:1-7 “Now in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it and built a siege wall all around it. So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls beside the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army was scattered from him. Then they captured the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and he passed sentence on him. They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.”

Isaiah is clearly speaking here of the coming Babylonian invasion
• When the people had previously been “full of noise” and “boisterous” and
“exultant”
• But all of a sudden their celebration turned to terror.
• Their leaders fled and were captured
• And the people went to their roof to hide from the invaders.

So LET’S DISCUSS what Isaiah is seeing and what Isaiah is talking about.

We have read it several times by now, but you remember that:
• When Assyria invades Judah, they come right to the gates of Jerusalem, and it looks bleak.
• But Hezekiah seeks the LORD and God delivers Jerusalem from his hand.
• Isaiah prophesied that Sennacherib wouldn’t even shoot an arrow into the city, and he didn’t.

So, when you read about their celebrating in verse 2
It is talking about the celebration of their deliverance from Assyria.

• They didn’t have anyone “slain with the sword”.
• They didn’t have anyone “die in battle.”

And the city of Jerusalem broke out into a huge party
Rejoicing in the fact that Assyria had been turned away.

But Isaiah is looking past that day and he tells the city,
Your rejoicing is going to be short lived.

Now, that SHOULD RESONATE with you.
Do you remember Isaiah’s answer to Edom when they wanted to know how much longer the night would last?

Isaiah 21:12 “The watchman says, “Morning comes but also night. If you would inquire, inquire; Come back again.”

What a message that is proving to be to Jerusalem.
You’re going to get a reprieve, morning is coming, but so is more night.

NOW WE UNDERSTAND IT.
You may survive Assyria, but you will not survive the judgment of God.
And Isaiah is spelling that all out for them here.

And because of that, Isaiah is beside himself.
#2 A WEEPING PROPHET
Isaiah 22:4

Certainly we see the HEART OF GOD here in Isaiah.
• He is weeping just as Jeremiah wept over the fall of Jerusalem.
• He is weeping just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem.
• He is weeping just as Paul wept over the lost Jews of his day.

But it also reminds us here that
Isaiah is absolutely certain of the truth of what God has shown him.

(4) “Therefore I say, “Turn your eyes away from me, Let me weep bitterly, Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

This is Isaiah’s version of the book of Lamentations.
He is heartbroken over what he has seen.

And he tells the people, “There’s no use trying to comfort me.”
• I know what I saw.
• I know what is coming.

Aside from giving us tremendous insight into the heart of Isaiah and of God, the MAIN POINT here is that THIS IS CERTAIN.

This city which is currently living it up and partying in celebration
Is going to fall.

In fact, Isaiah even spells it out.
#3 A COMING PANIC
Isaiah 22:5

(5) “For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of panic, subjugation and confusion In the valley of vision, A breaking down of walls And a crying to the mountain.”

What did Isaiah see?
• He saw “panic”
• He saw “subjugation” (slavery)
• He saw “confusion”
• He saw “breaking down of walls”
• He saw “a crying to the mountain” (weeping over the temple mount)

What Isaiah saw was the BABYLONIAN INVASION.
• He saw people scattering in fear and being rounded up and forced into slavery.
• He saw the city wall being torn down.
• He saw the temple up in smoke and people crying out in horror over it.

The people may have escaped Assyria,
But they would not escape Babylon.

It is so heavy upon Isaiah
That he has to turn away just to weep and to wail.

But certainly they and us would want to know “WHY?”
Why would God deliver us from Assyria and then turn around and destroy us with Babylon?

And THE ANSWER you are going to see
Fits right in line with the message of those oracles.

God saved Jerusalem from Assyria
Because of the repentance and faith of Hezekiah.

But while Hezekiah trusted God the people learned nothing from it
AND GOD IS NOT PLEASED
With how the people responded to the Assyrian invasion.

Let me show you.
#4 AN INAPPROPRIATE PARTY
Isaiah 22:6-13

Here is the heart of Isaiah’s message.

Isaiah begins by REMEMBERING the Assyrian invasion.

(6) “Elam took up the quiver with the chariots, infantry and horsemen; And Kir uncovered the shield.”

• “Elam” and “Kir” were both allies of Assyria
• They all approached and filled the valley with chariots.

(7) “Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots, And the horsemen took up fixed positions at the gate.”

Later, when Isaiah addresses the arrogance of Sennacherib, he says this:
Isaiah 37:24 “Through your servants you have reproached the Lord, And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest forest.”

This is all about the day
That Sennacherib approached the gates of Jerusalem.

And it was God who let him.
(8a) “And He removed the defense of Judah.”

God allowed Sennacherib to invade Judah
And make it all the way to Jerusalem.

In Sennacherib’s own chronicles
He boasts of having sacked 46 towns in Judah on his way to Jerusalem.
(Walvoord, John F; Zuck, Roy B. [The Bible Knowledge Commentary; Old Testament; Chariot Victor Publishing; Colorado Springs, CO; 1985] pg. 1069)

Sennacherib also boasted:
“Hezekiah, like a caged bird, within Jerusalem, his royal city, I confined; towers round about him I raised; and the exit of the great gate of his city I shut.”
Cited in: (Spence, H.D.M. [The Pulpit Commentary; WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Grand Rapids, MI; 1950] pg. 352)

We have read the Biblical account, it looked over for Jerusalem.
They were totally helpless.

And THE CALL OF THE PROPHET all along had been
That the city should cry out to God.
They should repent of their sin and inquire rightly of God.
THAT WAS THE CALL.

Now, they actually did a lot to try and hold of Assyria,
And that is all listed in verses 8b-11a

(8b-11a) “In that day you depended on the weapons of the house of the forest, And you saw that the breaches In the wall of the city of David were many; And you collected the waters of the lower pool. Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem And tore down houses to fortify the wall. And you made a reservoir between the two walls For the waters of the old pool.”

Isaiah lists 5 things that Hezekiah and Jerusalem did
In order to try and hold off the Assyrian advance.

1) “you depended on the weapons of the house of the forest.”

1 Kings 7 and 1 Kings 10 both speak of storage houses that Solomon built
And in Hezekiah’s day they had been used to store weapons.

And so when Assyria was advancing, one of the moves was to go and gather the weapons from the storehouse so that they would be ready to fight if needed.

2) “you saw that the breaches in the wall of the city of David were many”

The next thing they did was take inventory of their defenses
And they saw that the wall surrounding Jerusalem needed some work.

3) “you collected the waters of the lower pool.”

Hezekiah actually built an underground aqueduct through solid rock to move water inside the city limits.
2 Chronicles 32:30 “It was Hezekiah who stopped the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all that he did.”

4) “Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore down houses to fortify the wall.”

So they saw that their wall was in need of help
And they actually went on a campaign to reinforce it.

2 Chronicles 32:4-5 “So many people assembled and stopped up all the springs and the stream which flowed through the region, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant water?” And he took courage and rebuilt all the wall that had been broken down and erected towers on it, and built another outside wall and strengthened the Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in great number.”

5) “And you made a reservoir between the two walls.”

That’s like a mote between the inner wall and the outer wall.

They were preparing for every possible scenario.
• They armed themselves.
• They fortified their defenses.
• They secured a water supply.

AND LOOK, when you read Chronicles
God doesn’t rebuke Hezekiah for making such preparations.

IN FACT, part of being a responsible leader is to take such provision.
• There’s nothing wrong here with getting ready.
• There’s nothing wrong here with doing everything you can to secure the safety of your people.

SO WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?
(11b) “But you did not depend on Him who made it, Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.”

Certainly Hezekiah is excepted here who actually does seek the LORD
And on account of that God spared the city.

Isaiah is talking about everyone else.
• Hezekiah was the only one who trusted God.
• Hezekiah was the only one who sought the LORD.

We read about it in Isaiah 37
Isaiah 37:14-21 “Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. Hezekiah prayed to the LORD saying, “O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. “Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. “Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. “Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God.” Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria,”

And if you go on you remember that
God promised on behalf of his prayer that He would spare the city.

What is noticeably absent is anyone else seeking God with him.

Do you remember when Jonah warned Nineveh of their destruction?
• Everyone in that city, including the animals put on sackcloth
• And did without food and water
• In order that they might seek God and plead for His mercy.

But here we are in the city of God
And the only person seeking God was Hezekiah.

• Everyone else was involved in gathering weapons…
• Everyone else was involved in rerouting water…
• Everyone else was involved in shoring up the wall…

But no one else was repenting or seeking God
And this was the ONE THING
That God had been saying all along was required.

(12-13) “Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth. Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”

THERE IT IS!

“in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, to shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth.”

We are aware that Assyria was God’s rod.
• We know that God raised them up and God was the one sending them.
• We know that God was sending them against godless nations steeped in sin.
• We even know that Judah was such a nation.

But here we are reminded of God’s purpose in doing so.
God’s purpose in sending Assyria was to cause men
To cry out to Him in mourning and repentance.

Certainly you know by now the heart of God.

Ezekiel lays it out perfectly in the day when Jerusalem was eventually destroyed.
Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’”

The people of Nineveh learned it first hand.
Jonah 3:10 “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.”

In fact, Jonah was so convinced that God was like this that he didn’t even want to warn the Ninevites for fear that they would repent and God would forgive.

Jonah 4:2 “He prayed to the LORD and said, “Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.”

We have all rested in that picture of the prodigal son returning
• The father running to meet him and putting a robe on his back and a ring on his
finger and sandals on his feet and throwing that banquet for him.

We know our God to be merciful and compassionate and indeed this is the desire of God.
• He longs for men to repent.
• He desires that men return to Him.
• He delights in mercy and compassion.

So when He raises up a threat like the Assyrians and sends them against godless people He does it so that those people will repent and run to Him.

But Jerusalem missed the point.
• This “valley of vision” could not see the purpose.
• These people had ears but did not hear, they had eyes but did not see.

INSTEAD of joining Hezekiah in seeking the LORD…
INSTEAD of putting on sackcloth and fasting and crying out to God…
INSTEAD of turning from their wicked ways…

“There is gaiety and gladness, killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.’”

Even when they thought they had come to their end,
Instead of seeking God their decision was
To enjoy one more night of the sin that they loved.

God may kill us for our sin tomorrow so let’s enjoy it for one more night.

Sure they would try human means to hold back the judgment.
They would work hard to preserve their comforts and their sinful lifestyle.
• They would build walls.
• They would dig aqueducts.
• They would gather weapons.

BUT THEY WOULD NOT REPENT AND SEEK GOD.

If repentance was required to escape judgment
Then they would just take their chances with judgment.

IT WAS AN INAPPROPRIATE PARTY.

And incidentally, this becomes THE NORMAL RESPONSE of Jerusalem.
Isaiah faces this stubbornness for his entire ministry.

TURN TO: Isaiah 28:9-10

TURN TO: Isaiah 28:14-22

TURN TO: Isaiah 29:13-14

TURN TO: Isaiah 30:9-17

TURN TO: Isaiah 31:1

TURN TO: Isaiah 31:4-6

They were a stubborn people.
They would not seek God.
They would not repent.

And that leads us to the final point of Isaiah here.
#5 A TERRIFYING PROMISE
Isaiah 22:14

“But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me, “Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.”

Assyria approached Jerusalem to destroy it.
Hezekiah interceded and God spared the city.

But based on the response of the people of Jerusalem
God decided then and there that this city would be destroyed.

They would not repent and therefore they could not be forgiven.
This city would perish.

And history bears this out.
Hezekiah momentarily saved the city, but within 4 years there would be a new king in Judah.

• His name was Manasseh, and he was the worst king Judah ever had.
• He was full of idolatry and the shedding of innocent blood and he sealed the
fate of Judah.

• In fact, Manasseh’s son Josiah would lead a great revival in Jerusalem.
• He would find the book of the Law
• He would renovate the temple
• He would reinstate the Passover
• They call it the Josianic revival and it was great.

But…
2 Kings 23:26-27 “However, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. The LORD said, “I will remove Judah also from My sight, as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the temple of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”

And in 586 B.C. God sent Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the city and the temple and to deport the people of Judah to Babylon for 70 years.

ISAIAH SAW THAT DAY AND WEPT OVER IT.
These people, who were prone to party and enjoy their sin
Would soon find a day when the party would end.

ALL BECAUSE
• They would not learn from God’s discipline
• And they would not repent.

I suppose at this time it would also be good to remember what they were called to repent of.

TURN TO: Isaiah 1
(Verse 4) – They turned away from God.
(Verses 16-20) – Called to return to God and repent.
(Verses 21-26) – You see their lack of justice and compassion.
(Verses 27-31) – You see their idolatry.

God called them to repent of that sin.
But even when He sent judgment, their only desire
Was to get one last taste of sin before they died.

They weren’t willing to leave their sin.
They just tried every other possible way to stop the consequences.

AND THE POINT TO US IS UNMISTAKABLE.

We have stated it over and over and it is impossible to miss.
If you read Romans 1, how can we not see
That OUR NATION is under the judgment of God?

And you can blame bad politicians if you want.
You can say, “Oh the problem is our corrupt government or the corrupt media, or whatever.”

But you do realize that Assyria was corrupt too,
But it was still God who sent them.

Could it be that a corrupt government is part of the judgment?
Most definitely.

And we have people who do what the people of Jerusalem did.
They are working very hard to protect themselves from this corruption.

Some people go to the voting booths
• And hope to vote the right people into office so that we can get relief from bad leaders.

Some people go to the courts
• And build legal defense funds you know to fight back against laws in the court systems.

Some people go to the airwaves
• And try to use journalism and reporting to fight back.

Some people become those preppers
• Who try to get off the grid and store up food and prepare for the coming collapse.

WHAT IS THAT?
• That’s like gathering in the weapons from the storehouse.
• That’s like testing the wall and rebuilding it.
• That’s like digging an aqueduct to get water inside the city.

There’s nothing wrong with fighting corruption
Or preparing to protect those you love.

But none of those things are what saved Jerusalem.
The only thing that saved that city
Was the return of Hezekiah to the LORD.

And if we devote ourselves to human means but do not seek the LORD
Then we are no better off than the city of Jerusalem
Which only managed to save itself temporarily.

“But you did not depend on Him who made it, Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago. Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, to shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth.”

God has called His people to repentance.
2 Chronicles 7:13-14 “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

I have heard that verse quoted my whole life,
But very rarely do I see it obeyed,
I’ve never seen it obeyed in any kind of corporate sense.

“Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”

What we see in our nation is a people working frantically to secure their comfortable and even sinful way of life.
• Let’s hoard up supplies…
• Let’s figure out ways to stay comfortable off grid…
• Let’s make sure that even if God does pour down judgment on our nation that we will be able to maintain our way of life.

THE CALL OF GOD IS REPENTANCE.
The call of God is for men to run to Him and to seek His face.
And we do so with the promise that our God will abundantly pardon.

CHURCH
• Let us individually and corporately turn from sin.
• Let us individually and corporately seek the face of God.
• Let us individually and corporately put away the world.

Let us “Wash ourselves and make ourselves clean; let us remove the evil of our deeds from God’s sight. Let us cease to do evil and learn to do good. Let us seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan and plead for the widow.”

And if we do our God will abundantly pardon.

download here

The Oracle About Arabia
Isaiah 21:13-17
August 20, 2023

Well tonight we come to what I think is the most difficult oracle
To understand and interpret and preach among all of Isaiah’s oracles.

It is “The oracle about Arabia”.

We know where Arabia is
• It is southeast of Judah.
• It is modern day Saudi Arabia.
• And we know that Assyria defeated them in 715 B.C.
• But that’s about all we really know as far as making a connection with Israel and why Isaiah gave this oracle.

You see mentioned here three Arabian cities or regions.
• You have Dedan (13) (“Dedanites”)
• You have “Tema” (14)
• You have “Kedar” (16-17)

What I found quite humorous this week in studying this chapter
Is that commentaries are quite literally all over the map
Regarding where these cities actually were.

I’ve seen them placed south, north, on the coast
And pretty much everywhere in between.

And perhaps that is the most accurate way to look at them
Because the Arabians were a NOMADIC PEOPLE
Who dwelled in tents and sort of remained on the move.

We also know that the “Dedanites” were traders.
They show up in Ezekiel 27:15-20 as God pronounced judgment on Tyre.

Ezekiel 27:15-21 “The sons of Dedan were your traders. Many coastlands were your market; ivory tusks and ebony they brought as your payment. “Aram was your customer because of the abundance of your goods; they paid for your wares with emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral and rubies. “Judah and the land of Israel, they were your traders; with the wheat of Minnith, cakes, honey, oil and balm they paid for your merchandise. “Damascus was your customer because of the abundance of your goods, because of the abundance of all kinds of wealth, because of the wine of Helbon and white wool. “Vedan and Javan paid for your wares from Uzal; wrought iron, cassia and sweet cane were among your merchandise. “Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. Arabia and all the princes of Kedar, they were your customers for lambs, rams and goats; for these they were your customers.”

So from that prophecy we know that Dedan
• Carried “ivory tusks and ebony”
• Traded in “saddlecloths for riding”
• In return they bought “lambs, rams, and goats”

So there was a sort of MERCHANT aspect to them.
We can perhaps learn a little more about them in general from Jeremiah
As he spoke of their judgment to Babylon 150 years later.

Jeremiah 49:28-33 “Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. Thus says the LORD, “Arise, go up to Kedar And devastate the men of the east. “They will take away their tents and their flocks; They will carry off for themselves Their tent curtains, all their goods and their camels, And they will call out to one another, ‘Terror on every side!’ “Run away, flee! Dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Hazor,” declares the LORD; “For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has formed a plan against you And devised a scheme against you. “Arise, go up against a nation which is at ease, Which lives securely,” declares the LORD. “It has no gates or bars; They dwell alone. “Their camels will become plunder, And their many cattle for booty, And I will scatter to all the winds those who cut the corners of their hair; And I will bring their disaster from every side,” declares the LORD. “Hazor will become a haunt of jackals, A desolation forever; No one will live there, Nor will a son of man reside in it.”

As I said, that speaks of a judgment which will occur 150 years later
So it’s not necessarily perfectly relevant to Isaiah’s prophecy.

But we do learn again that they dwelled in tents and cared for flocks
And that they were nomadic without cities or gates or walls.

Jeremiah called them “a nation which is at ease, which lives securely”
And so maybe we learn a little about them from that.

The only other thing we know about them is that
God is pouring out wrath and judgment on them through Assyria.

We struggle to understand how they relate to Judah.
• Where they a potential ally?
• Where they an escape route?
• Where they a source of supplies?

It’s really hard to SPECULATE
And so it becomes next to impossible to really understand
WHAT IMPACT Isaiah’s announcement would have had on his people.

Certainly the fact that Isaiah predicts a judgment in one year
And the fact that the judgment occurred
• Would have lent credibility to Isaiah’s preaching
• But as accurate as Isaiah has been he hardly needed more proof.

I think the best way for us to study this particular oracle
Is as a simple reminder that God’s judgment
Reaches everywhere and no one can stop it.

We just studied this morning how repentance is required,

Perhaps we can remind ourselves tonight what happens when repentance does not occur.

But let’s take a look at this “oracle about Arabia”

Two main points.
#1 THE PICTURE
Isaiah 21:13-15

Isaiah here gives his people a picture of A REALITY
That will soon be occurring to their south.

It focuses on a traveling caravan.

Now “caravans of Dedanites” is not an unusual thing.
• They were merchants and so carrying goods back and forth in caravans was not peculiar.

But this is a PECULIAR caravan.
This is NOT TYPICAL of what you usually see.

This caravan is in HIDING
“In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night, O caravans of Dedanites.”

• There aren’t really any trees or forests in the northern parts of Arabia.
• About all the cover that is offered are just shrub bushes that grow in the desert,
• but here the caravan is told to try and hide among them.

Beyond that, this caravan is HELPLESS

• For Isaiah cries out to the “land of Tema”
• Which is also a region in Arabia where apparently there are springs of water.

And Isaiah says:
(14) “Bring water for the thirsty, O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Meet the fugitive with bread.”

This gets even more peculiar.

Now we have a caravan, which was normal.
• But they are hiding, which is not normal.
• And they don’t have any water or bread, which is also not normal.

Anyone who makes a living traveling through Arabia
Certainly understands the importance of carrying water with you.

These people didn’t bring any.
They have no food, no water, and they are hiding out.
They are in a pretty drastic condition.

Finally we catch a glimpse as to why.
This caravan is HORRIFIED

(15) “For they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow And from the press of battle.”

This caravan wasn’t on a business trip or on a money-making venture.
They weren’t buying or selling,
THEY WERE RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES.

Assyria has attacked and they had to leave so fast
That they didn’t even have time to gather water or food.

It is some kind of a major fear that will cause a man to run with his family
Out into the desert without taking any water for the journey.

So very simply we just see that Isaiah is painting
A very drastic picture for the parts of northern Arabia.

Well, what does it mean?
#2 THE PROPHECY
Isaiah 21:16-17

Here comes the sermon.

“For thus the Lord said to me, “In a year, as a hired man would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will terminate; and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken.”

Isaiah says that the picture he just revealed to his people will be fulfilled in one year.
• There will be an attack from the Assyrians
• Most of the soldiers will be killed
• And a surviving caravan will be driven out into the desert with nothing.

GOD WILL JUDGE ARABIA.

But as I told you, we have A DIFFICULT TIME understanding
THE EFFECT that this would have on Judah.

• We don’t see them as an ally.
• Perhaps they were seen as a supplier of goods, but that seems even a little bit
of a stretch.

For my part, I’m going to venture out and
Focus on a couple of words which Isaiah focuses on.

The only explanation of the judgment which Isaiah gives
Comes in the form of 2 things which Isaiah says God will remove.

Isaiah specifically points out 2 things that were not able to save Arabia.

We read:
• “the splendor of Kedar will terminate”
• “the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few”

“splendor” and “might”
God removed them both.

Neither were able to save Assyria in the day of her judgment.

WHAT ARE THESE THINGS?

Let’s start with “splendor”.

It is the Hebrew word (KAW-BODE)
• It is used 200 times in the O.T.
• Most of the time it is translated “glory”
• 72 times it is referred to as “the glory of the LORD”

It is defined simply as “heaviness” because it comes from a root word which means “heavy” and yet it is never used in a negative sense.

It would be to call a man heavy or weighty in a good sense.

We might understand it when we talk about
• “The stuff a man is made of, he’s no flighty man, he’s got a weighty presence”
• Or we might say, “He’s a solid man” in a character sense.
• Or we mighty say, “There’s nothing phony about him”
• He’s weighty as opposed to flighty

Clearly it is a word that speaks of
Ones value and nature and what they are made of.

This is why it is the word used to describe “the glory of the LORD”
It speaks of all that He is, the fullness of His presence.

And we might just understand it as “THE BEST OF A MAN”
• It’s what you might be prone to brag about regarding a man.
• It’s what you might call honorable in a man.
• It’s the good stuff you remember and that which gives him value on earth.

One Jewish website speaks of it as:
“Kavod is a term with both social and moral implications, and stems from the root word for weight. It can mean glory, honor, respect, distinction, and importance…Kavod indicates worth and value.”

The Weight of Glory and the Hebrew Word Kavod

That is the word “splendor”.

We also speak of “mighty”

It is the Hebrew word (GHIBOR)

It is used 160 times and 99% of the time it speaks of a warrior or soldier.
• You’ve read about David’s “mighty men of valor”
• Goliath was referred to as the Philistine “Champion”

It’s a word that speaks of strength to fight and win.

AND HERE WE SEE THAT GOD IS REMOVING BOTH.

He says “the splendor of Kedar will terminate”
• It will cease…
• It will fail…
• It will be no more…

And “the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few;”

AND HERE WE ARE REMINDED THAT
• Regardless of how much “splendor” Kedar had, they obviously
didn’t have enough to save them from God’s wrath.

• Regardless of how “mighty” Kedar was, they obviously weren’t
strong enough to stop God.

And this is worth contemplating for us tonight.
Certainly it was worth Israel contemplating in Isaiah’s day.

What is it that makes men think they will be safe during the coming judgment?

Is it their intrinsic worth; their weighty value, their glory or honor?
• Do they suppose that their splendor or glory is so great that it exempts them from the judgment of God?
• Do men really count on their own goodness?
• Do men really boast in their own value or worth or merit?

Every time a man contemplates judgment
And begins to talk about all the good stuff he has done
That is precisely what he is banking on.
He is trusting that his splendor is enough.

For some this splendor is bound up in religious works,
Which Isaiah will tell us later or nothing but filthy garments.

Certainly the Pharisees boasted in this.
“I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of all that I get”

Other men just boast in their importance in the world.
Since Arabia was a pagan nation we’ll examine this in their regard.

Can a man assume that he is worth so much on earth,
Or so good on earth that he can escape the coming wrath of God?

• I’m talking about the Ghandhi’s of this world.
• I’m talking about the rich and powerful.
• I’m talking about the Nobel prize winners, etc.
• The really good and “honorable” people who have done great things in life.

Psalms 49:16-20 “Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased; For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him. Though while he lives he congratulates himself— And though men praise you when you do well for yourself— He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They will never see the light. Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.”

Psalms 52:5-7 “But God will break you down forever; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent, And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah. The righteous will see and fear, And will laugh at him, saying, “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, But trusted in the abundance of his riches And was strong in his evil desire.”

Proverbs 11:4 “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death.”

Do we need examples?

Acts 12:21-23 “On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.”

How much splendor does a man need
To exempt him from the judgment of God?
Apparently more than that.

We could talk about the rich man who found himself in Hades begging for Lazarus to dip his finger in water and touch his tongue.

Certainly you are all aware that
No amount of human splendor or glory
Is enough to exempt a man from the judgment of God.

For no matter how great your glory,
It does not compare to the glory of God.

And we read it clearly in the gospel:
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

The splendor of men…
The glory of men…
Even the best of them…
Does not compare to the glory of God
And therefore is not acceptable to God.

I love the story of the Centurian with the sick servant.
He had that paralyzed servant and he wanted him healed.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 8:5-13

I think it is important to note the reputation that this man had among his peers.

This man apparently sent some Jewish elders to Jesus
To see about healing his servant.

When they approached Jesus they said:
Luke 7:4 “When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him;”

By man’s estimation this man’s splendor and glory and worth
Should warrant Jesus removing negative consequences from his life.
He is a worthy guy they said.

But that’s NOT what this man said about himself.
Jesus agreed to come and heal him, but the Centurian said “No”.

Matthew 8:8 “But the centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.”

Now here is what is interesting about that.
The elders called him “worthy”
He said “I am not worthy”

But they used two different words when they said it.

THE ELDERS used the Greek word AXIOS which is commonly translated “worthy”
But it always speaks of “worth based on merit, function, or action.”

Matthew 10:37-38 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”

It is your action evaluated.

So these elders say about this man that he has done enough.
His resume of good works and his honor and character
Make him worthy of his request.

And many people bank on such a mentality when approaching God.
I’ve done enough…
I’m good enough…

But when this Centurion says that he is not worthy he uses a different word.

He uses the word HIKANOS
It means “sufficient”
It has nothing to do with performance.

It is used in:
Matthew 3:11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

There it is translated “fit” where John says that
He is also not sufficient to remove Jesus’ sandals.

So when this Centurion evaluates himself he says that in his innermost being, “I am not enough”.

And Jesus marveled at that man’s faith.

AND OF COURSE YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE.

There is no amount of splendor or glory or honor or worth
That you possess which can exempt you from the judgment of God

Whatever you possess, it is not enough.
Arabia found that out and Israel learned it through them.

“the splendor of Kedar will terminate”

Their splendor could not exempt them from judgment.
But we also learn that their might could not rescue them from it.

Isaiah 30:15-17 “For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing, And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,” Therefore you shall flee! “And we will ride on swift horses,” Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five, Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top And as a signal on a hill.”

Goliath was mighty too, and God made short work of him.

There is no strength which can succeed against the LORD.

You may be the most mighty man who ever lived,
But have you forgotten who He is?

Isaiah 9:6 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

You may be a mighty man, but He is “Mighty God”.
He is EL GHIBOR

And none can stop Him, not even “the mighty men of the sons of Kedar”

God’s judgment handled them all.

So, I’m not sure precisely what Isaiah’s point to Israel was
In telling them of the coming judgment of Arabia,
BUT I KNOW WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM IT.

No one escapes the judgment of God based on his own glory.

No one defies the judgment of God based on his own strength.

Salvation from the judgment of God
Must come from outside of you.

It must come from another source.

Your salvation must come from one with acceptable “splendor”
• Your salvation must come from One who is worthy.
• Your salvation must come from One whose glory does not fall short of God’s glory.
• Your salvation must come from One whose honor can exempt Him from God’s judgment.

And this of course is only Jesus Christ.

That is the point God made to Peter on the mountain.
Matthew 17:1-5 “Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!”

Peter only had ONE SHOT at salvation
And it wasn’t through the Law or the prophets,
As if Peter could ever keep them.

His only shot at salvation was Jesus,
Whose glory matched that of the Father.

In fact:
Hebrews 1:3 “And He [Jesus] is the radiance of His [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

If you want glory that will exempt you from judgment, it is not yours.
Your heaviness; your weight; your splendor is too light.
ONLY JESUS MEASURES UP.

• He is the only One with enough substance to be acceptable to the Father.
• He is the only One weighty enough to be approved.
• He is the only One with glory that God accepts.

And our only shot of escaping judgment is to be wrapped in His glory.
Our only shot is to be clothed in His righteousness.

If you approach God with your own “splendor” it will not work.
Your “splendor”, like that of Kedar “will terminate”
• It will cease to be…
• It will come to an end…
• It will vanish…
And if you want MIGHT to allow you to hold off God’s judgment,
It won’t come from you either.

That strength is only found in Jesus Christ
Who took the full fury of the wrath of the judgment of God
And arose victorious 3 days later.

HE BORE IT ALL AND SURVIVED.

TURN TO: HEBREWS 2:5-18

• This Jesus did what man can not do.
• He tasted death for everyone.
• Through death He rendered powerless him who had the power of death.
• He frees us

ONLY JESUS WAS STRONG ENOUGH
To take the fury of God’s punishment for sin
AND SURVIVE IT.

Revelation 1:17-18 “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”

That’s the kind of One to entrust yourself to during the judgment of God.

ARE YOU UNDERSTANDING THE ORACLES?
1. Isaiah has shown us the judgment of God.
2. He has shown us that it is a judgment on sinners.
3. He has shown us that there are no other Saviors from it.
4. He has also shown us that repentance is required.
5. And now he has shown us that trusting in ourselves to escape it is a foolish notion.

Run to Christ, He’s the only hope.
• He’s the ark Noah escaped in.
• He’s that rock that will survive the storm.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 “Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.”

download here

The Oracle Concerning Edom
Isaiah 21:11-12
August 20, 2023

This morning we return to our study of the oracles of Isaiah after stepping aside last week to commission our students and teachers back into school.

And we are presented with a bit of a unique challenge
As we come across an oracle that consists of only 2 verses.

The danger with such a short text is that it is so easy to just sort of read such a cryptic conversation and then just sort of say whatever you want.

• Maybe we’ll talk about watchmen…
• Maybe we’ll talk about morning coming after night (i.e. hope)…
• Or maybe you read the question “how far gone is the night?”
• Then just go off on your own tangent regarding our own hardships or maybe
even dip into eschatology.

I will freely admit, passages like this
Present a unique challenge as we seek to understand them.

At times like this we lean even more heavily upon passages like
1 Corinthians 2:11-13
1 Corinthians 2:11-13 “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”

So as with all Scripture, but certainly difficult ones like this,
We lean heavily upon the Holy spirit who is our teacher
And trust Him to help us understand as we study.

AS ALWAYS, CONTEXT IS IMPORTANT.

• And while this oracle concerning Edom does come to us out of the blue
• And while everything that is said about Edom is contained in these 2 verses
• We still understand the segment we are in.

We are listening to Isaiah’s oracles.
They are judgments pronounced by God
On the nations surrounding Judah.

We have seen Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Egypt, Cush, and even Babylon.

There has been a similar theme that has rung true in each one of them.

Namely, do not trust in these nations for deliverance,
For they can’t even deliver themselves.

You will remember that the bully in the playground is ASSYRIA.

God has actually referred to them as “the rod of My anger” (10:5)
• God is the angry One.
• God is the One inflicting wrath.
• Assyria is merely the club God is using.

And God’s explanation for why He is using Assyria to pummel the nations
Has also been clearly articulated.

Isaiah 10:5-6 “Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation, I send it against a godless nation And commission it against the people of My fury To capture booty and to seize plunder, And to trample them down like mud in the streets.”

• God sends Assyria “against a godless nation”
• God commissions them “against the people of My fury”

So while Assyria is themselves a godless nation.
And while God will also eventually judge Assyria.

The only way to see the Assyrian assault on the ancient east
Is that they are the chosen instrument
By which God is unleashing His wrath against sinners.

Men have rebelled against the One who created them.
And God is punishing them for that sin by sending Assyria against them.

And, as we have said,
Since this is the wrath of God,
NO MAN is going to be able to deliver anyone from them.

The Philistines couldn’t – Sargon of Assyria invaded Ashdod in 711 B.C. and left 3,000 skeletons in a mass grave.

The Moabites couldn’t – When Assyria attacked they all had to flee south into Edom.

The Syrians couldn’t – Shalmaneser would destroy Damascus of Syria in 720 B.C.

Cush and Egypt couldn’t – we read about Assyria leading them away into exile barefoot and “with buttocks uncovered”.

Babylon couldn’t – Sennacherib defeated Merodach Baladan in 702 B.C. and eliminated them as a potential savior. “Fallen, Fallen is Babylon”.

So the OVERWHELMING POINT of each of these oracles
Is that there is no other Savior besides the LORD.

If you want to be saved from the Assyrian threat,
Then you are going to have to look to God as your salvation.

That is true of all men, not just Judah.
And it remains true today.
Jesus Christ is the only Savior this world will ever receive.

Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Hopefully by now that point has been ingrained in our minds.
• God is angry…
• God is punishing…
• And the only hope of salvation is God Himself…

AND WITH THAT CONTEXT,
We now look to this next oracle concerning Edom.

Edom you know.
• They are the descendants of Esau and they are perpetual enemies of Israel.
• The entire book of Obadiah is a message of judgment concerning Edom, especially for the way they would treat Israel during the time of the Babylonian invasion.

• Edom was located on the southeastern border of Israel (modern day Jordan) on the other side of the dead sea.

And they also, like the other nations,
Had found themselves under Assyrian oppression.

But Isaiah uses them for A UNIQUE POINT as we will see in our text.

Let’s break these 2 verses down into 3 points.
#1 THE QUESTION
Isaiah 21:11

I would remind you again that the oracles which Isaiah gave
Were NOT for the benefit of the nations that were addressed.
The oracles of Isaiah were for the benefit of Judah.

So here we have Isaiah telling an interesting story to his congregation.
“One keeps calling to me from Seir…”

It would be the equivalent of me standing here today saying,
• “I keep getting phone calls from this guy in California…”
• “He calls me over and over and over and he always asks me the same question.”

“Watchman…”

• “Watchman” is a title given to prophets since they are those who are supposed to see the coming wrath of God and warn the people accordingly.
• Ezekiel 3 is all about this.

But Isaiah says this guy keeps calling me and he says, “Watchman, how far gone is the night? Watchman, how far gone is the night?”

I keep getting this phone call from this guy in California and he just keeps asking me, how much longer is this judgment going to last?

That is what “the night” represents.
• It represents the hardship…
• It represents the punishment of God…
• It represents the current state of suffering…

So here we have a pagan,
• Who at the very least recognizes that Isaiah is a messenger of God.
• He also seems to understand that God is somehow involved in the current
affliction of Edom.
• And so he keeps reaching out to Isaiah wanting to know how much longer this
is going to go on.

IS IT NEARLY OVER?

Now certainly a familiar point could be made here.

If Judah had any intention of running to Edom for help,
• Obviously that is a bad idea,
• Because Edom, like all the other nations has enough trouble of their own.

But I don’t think that is Isaiah’s main point here.
He is driving to something much bigger.

But you have here Edom asking Isaiah,
How much longer is this going to last?

That’s a good question.
#2 THE ANSWER
Isaiah 12a

“The watchman says, “Morning comes but also night.”

So based on Isaiah’s answer, what is the prognosis?
NO END IN SIGHT.

• Oh, there may be some moments of temporary relief.
• Some moments may be easier than others.
• But even if you experience what feels like a new day or a new dawn,
• Rest assured, more night is coming.

This thing is not nearly over.

Edom wants to know “How long?” and Isaiah says, “LONG”.

If the message stopped there it would be nothing but depressing.

• There is no end in sight…
• You are doomed to suffer perpetually…
• There is no light at the end of the tunnel…
• You had better learn to speak Assyrian…

But, as God commonly does, Isaiah has a little more to say.
He does answer the question, but he also has SOME ADVICE.

#3 THE SOLUTION
Isaiah 21:12b

Isaiah goes on to say, “If you would inquire, inquire; Come back again.”

Here is where we find the entire point of what Isaiah has to say.
It is the heart of the message Isaiah would have his people hear.

FIRST we notice Isaiah’s insinuation that Edom should “inquire” BETTER

You understand what is implied by the statement,
“If you would inquire, inquire;”

That is to say,
• “If you’re going to ask, then ask right.”
• “If you’re going to seek, then seek right.”

That makes sense to us.
There is a right way and there is a wrong way to seek God.
There is a right way and there is a wrong way to approach Him.

And the insinuation of Isaiah is that Edom has yet to ask correctly.

You understand this as a parent
When a child wants something from you.

• When I was growing up I’d ask for something and my grandpa would say,
“What’s the magic word?”
• And you say, “Please”.

It was just his way of teaching politeness.
It was his way of teaching the proper way to approach other people.
Be kind, be polite, ask nicely.

If you’re going to ask me for something then ask me the right way.

And we understand that about God don’t we?
Consider Isaiah 58.

Isaiah 58:1-4 “Cry loudly, do not hold back; Raise your voice like a trumpet, And declare to My people their transgression And to the house of Jacob their sins. “Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God. ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers. “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.”

There were frustrated people because they asked God for something
And He didn’t grant it.

They even went through the religious motion of fasting and still God did not grant their request.

And they are frustrated.
• “Why have we fasted and You do not see?”
“Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?”

And God’s answer is because you don’t ask correctly.
• “Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire…”
• “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist…”

In other words, you ask Me out of selfish motives.
“You expect me to operated as a genie in a bottle and just grant your requests like I’m legally bound to give you whatever your selfish heart wants.”

“It’s as though you think that you are the sovereign one
And I am the servant.”
You don’t ask right.

James said the same didn’t he.
James 4:1-3 “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”

You seem to think that My entire existence is simply so that I can grant you whatever you want.
• When you want deliverance…I’m the deliverer.
• When you want provision…I’m the provider.
• When you want rain…I control the weather.
• When you want healing…I’m the healer.

You just come to Me in order that I might grant you whatever you want.
YOU DON’T ASK CORRECTLY.

Or we think of Jesus’ parable on prayer:
Luke 18:9-14 “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

There you have a man who has forgotten how to humble himself.
• He thinks he deserves God’s blessing.
• He thinks he deserves God’s favor.
• He thinks that he has sufficiently earned every good thing that he desires
• And He thinks that God is somehow obligated to give it to him.

But God adamantly answers that man without giving him justification.
YOU DON’T ASK CORRECTLY.

And this is all bound up in THE POINT that Isaiah is making to Edom.

But I do hope you understand that he is not really making that point to the Edomites. Who is Isaiah really preaching to? (Judah)

I know he is talking about the Edomite request,
But we all know who this sermon is really for.

“If you would inquire, inquire;”
Ask correctly.

And Jesus will speak of the same things.

Take the Sermon on the Mount.
• You know that the Sermon on the Mount is all about righteousness.
• That’s the point of the entire sermon.
• God demands righteousness and YOU DON’T HAVE IT.

Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

But the problem is that
• You are light that doesn’t shine.
• You are salt that doesn’t taste.
• You commit heart murder.
• You commit heart adultery.
• You malign scripture to condone your sin.
• You don’t keep your word.
• You don’t love like God.
• Your giving, praying, and fasting is hypocritical, you do it for earthly recognition.
• You love money.
• You worry about the wrong things.
• You don’t seek the right things, like My kingdom.
• You try to justify yourself by comparing yourself to others (i.e. judging)

God demands righteousness and you don’t have it.

Well, how do I get it?
How do I obtain the righteousness that God demands that I have?

Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

Such an important passage.

If you want righteousness “ask…seek…knock”

Incidentally, the Greek tense there implies an ongoing action of
“keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking”

There must be a dedicated desire to receive from God
That which you do not possess and that which only He can provide

Like that widow
• Who stood before the unrighteous judge,
• You go to God in humility and desperation and perseverance
• Because He is the only one who can grant what you need.

Jesus stated it also like this:
Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

And if you will seek God with that kind of humility and persistence
Then God will grant it because He is good and “your Father who is in heaven [will] give what is good to those who ask Him!”

• “good” there is not the good thing you want, like the sports car.
• “good” is that thing we had at creation and lost at the fall.
• “good” is the righteousness which God demands from you.

There is “none good, not even one”, but if you ask God for goodness
With faith and humility, He will give it to you.

So you see even in the New Testament that it matters how you ask.
There must be faith.
There must be humility.

HOWEVER – neither of those attributes are the attribute
That Isaiah focuses on when he tells the Edomites to ask correctly.

Isaiah says, “Come back again.”

Here is where I think the entire secret to the entire oracle is found.
Here is where we see the message that is really for Judah.

3 English words, 2 Hebrew words.

“Come” translates (AW-THAW)
• And it means exactly as it is translated.
• It means “Come”
• Same word as in verse 12, “Morning comes but also night”

But the interesting word is the next one.

“back again” is the Hebrew word (SHOOB)

And Isaiah loves this word.
It has been a foundational word for his preaching. (50x)
Perhaps a more clear translation of this word would be “return”.

You saw it just a couple chapters ago.
Isaiah 19:22 “The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.”

• After God strikes and then heals Egypt they will “return to the LORD”

In fact, it is even translated “repentant” in Isaiah 1:27
Isaiah 1:27 “Zion will be redeemed with justice And her repentant ones with righteousness.”

• The returning ones; the repentant ones will be redeemed.

You also know that those who refuse to return will not be saved.

Remember Isaiah’s commissioning?
Isaiah 6:10 “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

• It is the blind and deaf and hard hearted people who will not “return and be
healed.”

It is actually even a word that Isaiah uses regarding God.

Isaiah 12:1 “Then you will say on that day, “I will give thanks to You, O LORD; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, And You comfort me.”

• God has turned away His anger from the repentant.

Isaiah 14:27 “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

• God’s hand can’t be turned back.

Do you remember chapter 9 and the first part of chapter 10 when we read the same statement 4 TIMES?
“In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.”

• Same word – SHOOB
• God’s anger does not turn away.

ISAIAH LOVES THE WORD.

But mostly he loves it and uses it
As a call to Israel regarding how they should seek God.

Isaiah 31:6 “Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel.”

Isaiah 55:7 “Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”

God’s call is for Israel to SHOOB; to return to Him.
And if they will, He will redeem them.
If they return to Him, He will save them.

Isaiah 59:20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the LORD.”

Isaiah 44:22 “I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

In fact, it will be the work of God and His Christ to return Israel to Himself.

Isaiah 49:5-6 “And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the LORD, And My God is My strength), He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

So you get that this is a big word for Isaiah.
HE LOVES IT.

He sees it as the secret regarding how you should approach God
In the midst of His judgment.

“If you would inquire, inquire; come [return]”
• It is to come back to the One that you have abandoned.
• It is to come back to the One that you have despised.

IF ALL YOU DO
• Is come to God because you want Him to fix your problem
• And then you plan on going back to your sinful lifestyle
• Then you can forget it.

That is the MISTAKE we read about in chapter 58.
You just come lifting up your desires.
Or as James said that is asking with wrong motives.

In this crisis you had better seek God
And you had better seek Him correctly.

And by now I think you understand the word we are driving at.
REPENTANCE.

Edom comes asking Isaiah how much longer until God does something about Assyria?

Isaiah responds by saying, “Is this how you intend to approach God? Would you really approach Him as though He is a lazy butler?”

If you want to know how much longer until God intervenes…
Well, “How long will it be until you repent and return to God?”

Why does the wrath of God fall on man?
Romans 1:18-21 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Do you want a Savior?
Do you want a Deliverer?
Then I’d start with repentance.

I’d start with the admission that you have rebelled against your Creator.
• He created mankind to walk in holiness and truth
• And we have instead chosen only to seek after sin.

God said it Himself:
Romans 3:11-12 “THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”

When God did send a Savior to the world,
He first sent A FORERUNNER to prepare the way for that Savior.

What did that forerunner tell you to do?
Luke 3:3-6 “And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT. ‘EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED, AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW; THE CROOKED WILL BECOME STRAIGHT, AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH; AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.’”

When the Savior arrived and started preaching, what was His first message to the people?
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

When Israel rejected Christ and crucified Him
And God raised Him from the dead
And Peter stood and told the people what they had done.

They wanted to know what they should do now in order that they might be made right with God.
Acts 2:38 “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

And when they cornered Peter again later in the temple court after Peter healed a cripple, Peter reiterated the message.
Acts 3:11-20 “While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement. But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk? “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. “And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all. “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you”

When Paul went and preached to the pure pagans of Athens.
Men who had given God’s glory to every other false deity they could imagine.
Acts 17:30-31 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

I THINK YOU GET THE POINT.

Isaiah has spent 8 chapters and his first 6 oracles
To teach you that there is only 1 Savior from the judgment of God.
• He is that Savior.
• In the New Testament He reveals Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.
• There will be no other Savior.
• There will be no other Deliverer.

But now in the 7th oracle
Isaiah teaches you how you must approach that Savior.
• He does not owe salvation to you.
• He is not legally bound to save everyone.

• He saves those who seek Him.
• He saves those who seek Him correctly.
• He saves those who turn from their sin so that they might draw near to Him.

If you were with us Wednesday night
We saw a great picture of this with Jacob.

• Jacob had come back from the land of Laban (Padan-Aram) where God had spent 20 years sanctifying him.

• God had brought him safely home and Jacob had even built and altar declaring that God was his God.

But the strange thing is that
Jacob DID NOT dwell near the place where he encountered God.
Instead of settling in Luz, Jacob settled in Shechem

And we wonder why Jacob would not dwell closer to God?
The answer came in chapter 35 when God specifically told Jacob to move to Bethel.

Genesis 35:1-3 “Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and live there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods which are among you, and purify yourselves and change your garments; and let us arise and go up to Bethel, and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.”

Do you see what had kept Jacob from drawing near to God?
All of his idols.

• You can’t take your sin with you when you approach God.
• You can’t take your pride with you.
• You can’t take your idolatry with you.
• You can’t take your immorality with you.

If you want to approach God for salvation
You must approach Him correctly.
You have to leave your sin and seek Him.

You have to enter that narrow gate and run after Him.

And if you will, He will save.
HE PROMISED HE WILL.

This is the message to Edom,
But it is really for Judah and today it is for you and me.

If we think you can hold on to your sin
And yet be saved in the day of judgment,
We do not understand who God is.

He will forgive you.
He will save you.
He will do those things if you will seek Him.
But if you are going to inquire then inquire correctly.

You come and return to Him.
Leave your sin, leave your pride, humble yourself and He will save.

That has always been the heart of God.
That has always been the gospel.

And this morning it is my invitation to you.
• Return to the God who created you.
• Repent of the sin by which you have alienated from Him.
• Cry out to Him for salvation and deliverance.

HE WILL SAVE YOU.

Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

download here

Sent
John 20:21
August 13, 2023

This morning we come to our annual
“Back To School Commissioning Service”.

We are those who see the school as far more than
Just a means of education, we believe it to be our mission field.

• More than just asking for blessing…
• More than just asking for safety…
• More than just asking for a good year…

We believe that as the church it is our duty to see the school
As we see all other things and that is as a place
Where God has sovereignly placed individuals
To be light in the midst of darkness
And salt in the midst of that which has no flavor.

Every year we encourage those who are headed into the school system
• To see it as more than a job or more than a requirement,
• But to see it through the lens of scripture
• And to embrace it as a mission field.

And this morning the verse we’re going to focus in is John 20:21.

• At this point Jesus has already been crucified and has risen from the dead.
• His followers have locked themselves back in the upper room because they are
afraid of the Jews.

And that alone should cause you to take a little comfort.
These men were fearful too.
These men were confused too.

But Jesus enters that room with many things to say.

The statement we focus on is found in verse 21:
“So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

And more than any this morning I want us to consider the word “sent”.

This morning we could talk about the willingness of Jesus.
• We could talk about His willingness to leave heaven.
• We could talk about His willingness to take on human flesh.
• We could talk about His willingness to face temptation.
• We could talk about His willingness to fulfill the Law.
• We could talk about His willingness to bear our sin and shame.

And in all those things there is nothing wrong at all
With referring to Jesus as a tremendous volunteer.

After all Hebrews 12 says:
Hebrews 12:2-3 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus embraced the suffering of the cross.
• He despised the shame (thought little of)
• He looked to the glory of heaven
• He loved so much that He laid down His life

You know the realities of Jesus as a volunteer; a willing Savior.

And yet, as Jesus stands in the upper room with His disciples
He refers to Himself as One who has been “sent”.

The very word brings with it a connotation of obeying an order.
• The very word brings with it the understanding that a Commander gave a
command and someone obeyed it.

God sent Jesus.
God commissioned Jesus.

And Jesus catapults off of that reality
To pass on the marching orders to His disciples saying, “as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

And what we first need to consider this morning is
The sovereign prerogative behind the evangelistic call to missions.

Now this morning we are NOT going to discuss God’s sovereignty over salvation.
• Things like foreknowledge and election and predestination;
• Things which are all absolutely biblical and true.

Rather, this morning we are going to talk about God’s sovereignty
In the aspect of His prerogative to send His church into the world.

In short, by the end of this sermon
• I hope you will not see yourself merely as one who has volunteered to enter the school,
• Or even as one who has a heart for the school,
• But I hope to show you that you have been divinely and sovereignly sent by God into your school.

So let’s start down that track this morning.

First I just want to remind you to some extent of what we mean by
“The sovereignty of God”.

It is a theme which saturates Scripture.

Early on in the book of Genesis,
• As Abram encountered the King/Priest named Melchizedek,
• Melchizedek described God to Abram like this:

Genesis 14:19 “He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;”

Later
• When Abraham commissioned his servant to go and find a bride for Isaac,
• Abraham spoke of God like this:

Genesis 24:3a “and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth…”

When Moses described God to the Israelites:

Deuteronomy 4:39 “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”

When Moses then commissioned Joshua, He revealed God as:

Joshua 2:11b “… the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”

Hezekiah recognized the sovereign nature of God as he prayed while under Assyrian attack:

2 Kings 19:15 “Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.”

David certainly recognized God’s sovereignty over all things:

Psalms 75:6-7 “For not from the east, nor from the west, Nor from the desert comes exaltation; But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.”

Psalms 115:2-3 “Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is their God?” But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”

Psalms 135:5-6a “For I know that the LORD is great And that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases, He does…”

Isaiah saw it:

Isaiah 40:22-23 “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.”

Jeremiah had the most famous illustration of it
• As he saw God as the Potter who does whatever He wants with the clay.

Jeremiah 18:6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.”

GOD IS SOVEREIGN.

And men even spoke of the PRACTICAL RAMIFICATIONS
Of God’s sovereignty over human affairs.

Hannah had a great prayer in which she said:
1 Samuel 2:6-8 “The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. “The LORD makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts. “He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of honor; For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, And He set the world on them.”

Job recognized the same:
Job 12:9-10 “Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?”

God is not a passive sovereign, He is an active sovereign.
He is actively ordaining all things.
Even the things which we do not understand.

When God called Moses
• Moses hesitated because he felt unqualified as a man who stutters
• God said:
Exodus 4:10-13 “Then Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? “Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.” But he said, “Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will.”

Even your supposed weaknesses and frailties are not mistakes.
God has sovereignly crafted you into the exact tool He desires
In order that He may be glorified through you.

Psalms 139:13-16 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”

There are no mistakes here.

And we could go on and on and on in this realm.
GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER ALL THINGS.

Acts 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”

He does whatever He pleases with all men.
• Their existence is not a coincidence…
• Their location is not a coincidence…
• Their occupation is not a coincidence…
• God has sovereignly ordained it all.

And certainly this includes our understanding of missions.

Paul wrote:
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

You see the sovereignty of God there.
• “all these things are from God”
• He “reconciled us”
• He “gave us the ministry of reconciliation”
• “God was in Christ reconciling the world”
• “He has committed to us the word or reconciliation”

Nothing about that is coincidental.
The sovereign God of the universe is behind it all.

In short, it is God who divinely places and sovereignly sends
His people into the world for the proclamation of the gospel.

IT IS NOT AN ACCIDENT
• When they find themselves where they find themselves.

IT IS NOT AN ACCIDENT
• Or a coincidence that you are in the school you are in.

We know that God is sovereign over all things
And all circumstances and all men.

And we know that God sends His people into the world
FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROCLAIMING HIS WORD.

That is clearly seen throughout Scripture.

Now I want to ILLUSTRATE that a little. (And I’m going to work you a little)
I want you to see the reality of God sovereignly sending people.

Let’s start with one we have recently seen.

TURN TO: ISAIAH 6:8-10

Of course you remember this story.
• It is Isaiah’s commissioning.
• Isaiah saw the Lord and it should have killed him, but God had mercy on him.

• And when God asked, “Whom shall I send?”
• Isaiah said, “Send me”

Now in one sense that looks like a clear case of Isaiah volunteering
(And to an extent it is).

However, are we going to overlook the reality of what happened before that?
• That God appeared to Isaiah…
• That God convicted Isaiah…
• That God cleansed Isaiah…

Obviously, it was God who initiated all of this.
And then God sent him.

(9) “He said, “Go, and tell this people…”

God took a sinful man of unclean lips…
God pardoned Him…
God commissioned him to carry His word to the people of Israel.

GOD DID THAT.

TURN TO: JEREMIAH 1:4-10

That one is unmistakable.
• God knew Jeremiah in the womb.
• We would say, “You were created for this.”

It didn’t matter that he was a youth.
It didn’t matter that he didn’t know how to speak.

But just like with Isaiah, God touched His mouth and told him to go.
• He was created
• He was consecrated
• He was chosen
• He was commissioned

GOD SENT HIM.

TURN TO: EZEKIEL 2:1-3:11
(my personal favorite)

Ezekiel, much like Isaiah had seen a vision of the glory of God
And it put him on his face. Which is why God first told him to stand up.

And God sovereignly sent him.
• (3) “Son of man, I am sending you…”
• (4) “I am sending you…”
• (3:4) “Son of man, go…”

Ezekiel was confronted by God.
Ezekiel was consecrated by God.
Ezekiel was commissioned by God.

And God even uniquely created Ezekiel for the people he was sent to.
(3:8) “Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.”

This is not a mistake.
This is not a coincidence.
Ezekiel was sovereignly sent.

TURN TO: DANIEL 1:8-21

• We think of all the kings Daniel had a chance to speak to.
• We think of sermons preached and dreams interpreted.
• Daniel had a tremendous platform from God to speak to the most powerful men in the world in his day.

That segment ended with the statement:
(21) “And Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king.”

• That would be a ministry of 69 years.
• God placed him in Babylon and placed him there to stay.

Do you see that?

Or even in that time period we think of Esther who was placed there “for such a time as this.”

IT’S ALL GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY.

TURN TO: HOSEA 1:2

• If you keep reading Hosea did what God said and had children.
• The 3rd he named “Lo-ammi” which meant “Not mine”

But he did it because God commissioned him to it.

It was a job God called him to, and obviously not even a pleasant one.
But God called him to it none the less.

TURN TO: AMOS 7:14-15

• Amos lived in the Southern Kingdom,
• He was called by God to go to the Northern Kingdom
• They hated him for it.

When they rebuked him, this is what he said.
“I’m a farmer, not a preacher, but God called me here.”

Just a regular guy whom God sent with a word to His people.

TURN TO: JONAH 1:1-2

• You know that story and the man who was sent to a people he didn’t even like
• And who he didn’t think deserved salvation.

But God sent him, even if it meant using a fish to do it.

We could go into the New Testament and see Jesus calling those fishermen to lay down their nets and be fishers of men.

We certainly read the Great Commission.
Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

It is God’s sovereign prerogative to send people.

Romans 10:13-15 “for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”

GOD SENDS PEOPLE.

And what I hope you glean from those prophets is that
God was sovereign over all of it.

Was it an accident Isaiah saw Jesus in the temple?
Of course not – your salvation wasn’t an accident either.

Was it an accident Ezekiel beheld the glory of God?
No – neither is God revealing Himself to you.

Was it an accident that Ezekiel was hard-headed?
No, God uniquely designed him for the people he was going to preach to.

Was it an accident that Daniel was in Babylon?
No, and neither is the location of your ministry.

I think it is fascinating that our church will have representatives
In schools in Matador, Guthrie, Lorenzo, Spur, and Jayton.

Do you suppose that to be a mistake or a coincidence?
Certainly not.

You are where you are for a reason.

Was it an accident that Hosea had a hard calling to marry a prostitute?
No – and your hard job isn’t an accident either.

God may have purposely placed you in that darkness
To be the brightest of lights.

Was it an accident that Amos and Jonah were sent to foreign lands?
No, and if God just moved you from one place to another that’s not an accident either.

Was it an accident that Jeremiah found himself in Jerusalem at the very time God appointed the fall of Jerusalem?
No, and your setting isn’t a coincidence either.

You are not accidentally in your school,
You have been sovereignly placed there by God.
He saved you and He has sent you into that school.

If you think you are in that school
• Because you decided to move here…
• Or because your parents made a decision to put you there…

You greatly overestimate your sovereignty
And greatly underestimate God’s.

It is God who is sovereign.
• He controls not only opportunities, but also desires.
• He is at work in all these situations.

And I just want you to see that this morning.
YOU HAVE BEEN SENT

It is not an accident…
It is not by your doing (even if you think it is)…
It is not a coincidence…

God is Lord of heaven and earth.
• He sovereignly controls all things.
• He is the potter who is molding the clay.
• He is the One who ordained your days.

You are where you are by His sovereign plan.
You have been sent to your school.

So I hope you see that first.

But secondly I want you to ask the question – WHY?
Why has God sent me to the school He sent me to.

Well back to John 20:21
“So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Jesus said, that He is sending us
For the same reason that the Father sent Him.

• Did you think it was to make money?
• Did you think it was for an education?
• Did you think it was opportunities to do things you like?
• Did you think it was to meet a specific person?

Indeed, those things my indeed occur as byproducts
Of where God has placed you.

But none of those are the primary reason why God sent you there.

He sent you to your school for the same basic reasons He sent Christ to earth: THE SALVATION OF HIS CHILDREN.

But take it from the lips of Jesus.
Let me show you 5 reasons Jesus said He was sent to earth.

This will help you understand why He is sending you.

1) TO SUBMIT

This is sort of generic, but it is a good reminder.
Jesus came to this earth to obey His Father.

John 12:23-28 “And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”

He came to do His Father’s will.

And that is a great place to start when I ask you: Why you are in the school?

Are you there to do the Father’s will?

There is really no gray area in this one.
• You either go there to serve Him or you don’t.
• You are either there on His mission or you aren’t.

Jesus did not come to earth as a vacation…
• He did not come to earth for furthering education…
• He did not come to earth just for the fun of it…
• He did not come for the purpose of making money…

Jesus came to obey and glorify His Father,
And that is our calling as well.

Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

God is sending you into that school,
You have to determine if you will acknowledge that
And go for the purposes that He has sent you.

“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

2) TO SPEAK

Mark 1:35-39 “In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. Simon and his companions searched for Him; they found Him, and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” He said to them, “Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.” And He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons.”

What you may not know about that setting is that it was Sunday.
• On the day before, the Sabbath, Jesus had cast a demon out of a man in the synagogue and really irritated the religious leaders.
• He left the synagogue and went to Simon’s house where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever.
• That night crowds showed up with all kinds of sick and crippled and demon possessed people and Jesus healed them all.
• And the next morning His popularity was surging.

If He had ever had the intention of opening up a healing center
Or a deliverance center, He was well on His way.

BUT INSTEAD HE LEAVES.
WHY?

“Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for.”

He was sent to preach the gospel.
He was sent to proclaim the good news.
He was sent to preach.

And Jesus said:
“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Someone in the 90’s coined the erroneous phrase,
“Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words.”

And because people are more sentimental than they are discerning,
People loved the phrase.

But as Allistair Begg pointed out, that’s like saying, “Go forth and feed the poor, if necessary use food.”

Preaching is necessary.
And God has sent us into the world to do it.

What did Paul say in the text we read earlier?
2 Corinthians 5:18-19 “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

He does the saving, but part of His process is
To entrust the word of salvation to us.

Paul said:
Romans 1:14-16 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Do you want to know why God has placed you in that school?
• To proclaim His word.
• To preach His gospel.

The opportunities are absolutely endless.

And look, the arguments against it are growing tiresome…
• “Well the ACLU says we can’t”
• “There is a separation of church and state”
• “Well I wouldn’t want a Muslim doing it, so I won’t either”

Do you suppose any of those excuses would wash in the book of Acts?

Do you ever hear anything like that from the lips of Jesus?
He was sent to preach, and now He has sent you to do the same.

3) TO SHOW

Or maybe we might say, “to expose”.

Jesus said:
John 9:39 “And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”

Which shows us that His purpose was to expose the hearts of men.

Certainly He did that through preaching
But also simply through righteous living.

His very life was a conviction of the world.

And we think of how deep His exposing of men would go.
Luke 12:49-53 “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! “But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! “Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. “They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

He would bring truth to a boiling point
And it would cut to the hearts of men.

He would expose men like light exposes the darkness.
• And the change that He would create in man runs the risk of separating even the most intimate of relationships.

• He didn’t come to overlook sin.
• He didn’t come to tolerate sin.
• He didn’t come to empower sin.
He came to expose it.

Ask the woman at the well about the time Jesus told her she’d been married 5 times and was now living with a man she wasn’t married to.

Ask Nicodemus about how Jesus told him his only hope was to be born again.

Ask one of the Pharisees whom Jesus called sons of the devil.

I’m not saying we should be mean, or rude;
Jesus was none of those things, but He did lay down the truth,
Even if it exposed and cut and convicted.

If the church is the light then she must be willing to shine.

Do you think that unredeemed teaching colleague is going to give students an accurate understanding of what is sin?

Do you think the other boys in the locker room are going to point out what is sinful?

Jesus sends His followers into the world
To shine the light and expose the darkness.

Matthew 10:12-15 “As you enter the house, give it your greeting. “If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. “Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. “Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.”

“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

4) TO SEEK

Who did Jesus seek?
The lost.

We remember the story of Jesus eating at the house of Zaccheus and how the religious elite balked at it.

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Seeking the lost is important.
• This is why you are in the school.
• This is why God sent you there.

You do realize that most of the unredeemed people in your school
Are not going to come here, at least not on their own.

For a lost man to hear the gospel one of two things has to happen.
• Either the lost man has to seek a saved man and ask him for the truth,
• Or a saved man has to seek a lost man and tell him the truth.

Which do you suppose to be more likely?

Jesus was sent to the lost.

“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

5) TO SERVE

Clearly from Jesus we read:
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Jesus came to serve.
God sent Jesus to serve.

But when Jesus says serve,
He does not mean simply do kind deeds for people.

Certainly He did, but the Christian mission is far more than staying behind to clean up the mess or helping to unload the trailer.

Certainly a Christian should do those things
for they are acts of love and they open doors to the gospel.

But Jesus spells out for us what service was to Him.
It was “to give His life”

No, we do not die for the atonement of sinners,
Only Jesus does that,

But we do lay down our lives for the sake of the gospel.

It reminds us that the mission is elevated above every other thing.
It reminds us that we are committed to the mission at all cost.

John 13:13-17 “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”

We are called to do what He did.

So you see that you have been sent,
And if I ask you why you were sent, it is simple.

You were sent to be the presence of Jesus in your school.
Go and do what He did.

• Submit to God.
• Speak the Gospel.
• Show what is true and what is false.
• Seek the lost to tell them.
• Serve by laying down your life to do it.

You are not there by accident.
You are not there by coincidence.
The sovereignty of God does not allow for such anomalies.

• You were created…
• You were chosen…
• You were called…
• You are commissioned…
• For this very task.

And this morning, we the church charge you to the fulfillment of that task.

And we will conclude this morning,
With a commitment to pray for you as you carry it out.